Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinent pads are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. It has been found to be desirable to attempt to create absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, that maintain contact with the body of the wearer when they are worn. It is even more desirable that sanitary napkins also conform as closely as possible to the body of the wearer. Such a body-conforming capability is believed to increase the effectiveness of the sanitary napkin by reducing the possibility that menses will travel around the perimeter of the sanitary napkin and leak.
There have been a number of recent efforts to provide sanitary napkins and other absorbent articles with improved body-conforming characteristics. Two recent efforts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,264, issued to Osborn, III, on Aug. 21, 1990, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/175,817, abandoned Jan. 22, 1992 entitled "Absorbent Article" filed Mar. 31, 1988 in the name of Kenneth Barclay Buell, both of which are incorporated by reference herein. While the sanitary napkins disclosed in these references work quite well, the search for new and different ways of improving body contact has continued.
It is especially desirable that sanitary napkins maintain contact with and conform to the body of the wearer under dynamic conditions (when the wearer walks, sits, etc.). There are certain critical dynamic conditions which stress the sanitary napkin and tend to reduce its ability to stay in contact with the body of the wearer. As soon as the sanitary napkin is put on, for instance, the sanitary napkin is subjected to lateral compression by the upper portions of the wearer's thighs. The forces applied by the wearer's thighs generally tend to distort the shape of the sanitary napkin, reducing the size of the target the sanitary napkin provides.
One attempt to control the effect of these compressive forces is disclosed in UK Patent Application No. 2 168 612 A, published Jun. 25, 1986. The UK patent application discloses a sanitary towel with a resilient insert positioned within the core or adjacent to a face of the core that is intended to inhibit permanent distortion of the towel. The insert only serves to resist deformation of the sanitary towel, however, it does not utilize the compressive forces to improve contact of the towel with the wearer's body. Further, the UK patent application does not teach or disclose utilizing the compressive forces to provide the sanitary towel with body-conforming properties.
In addition, as is well known, sanitary napkins are generally fastened to the wearer's undergarments by a pressure sensitive adhesive or other means. The means is stressed when the wearer moves about, because the wearer's undergarments may not move in concert with the body of the wearer, and the sanitary napkin may not flex and twist with the wearer's undergarments. If stressed excessively, the pressure sensitive adhesive, or other means may become detached from the undergarment. This will cause the sanitary napkin to shift from the desired position and registration with the wearer's vaginal opening. It is, therefore, also desirable to provide the body-conforming sanitary napkin with a mechanism to accommodate the independence of movement between the body of the wearer and the wearer's undergarments.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, which readily intercepts menses when discharged by maintaining contact with and conforming to the shape of the female urogenital and buttocks region.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a sanitary napkin which maintains contact with the wearer throughout the range of normal movements encountered while the sanitary napkin is worn. It is also desirable that the sanitary napkin continue to maintain contact with the wearer's body when it is subjected to the forces that normally accompany the wearing of a sanitary napkin.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary napkin that advantageously utilizes the compressive forces exerted by the wearer's thighs to improve the contact between the sanitary napkin and the wearer's body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary napkin that has body-contacting and body-conforming components that do not have any sharp corners, edges, or fold lines that would irritate the wearer.
Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a sanitary napkin with a mechanism to accommodate the independence of movement between the body of the wearer and the wearer's undergarments.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.